Persona 3582 Days
by KeyToUnivers
Summary: "What are we?" "Why do we exist?" Such are the questions a Nobody ask himself. Fellow Minato's story through his days in Organization 13! I just re-wrote chapters 1 and 2! check them out!
1. Introduction

_**So there we go! This time, I'm writing a Cross-Over of Persona 3 and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. I want you to discover this story, let's begin.**_

_Pitiful Shadows_

_Mindlessly attacking people_

_They hold within themselves_

_The power to bring about the end of everything_

…

_The Fall_

The story begins in a blank and spacious room with some kind of table in the middle and very high chairs around it. All the chairs were occupied by people in black coats: some of them were hiding their faces with their hoods and the others had theirs revealed. All the chairs were occupied, all but one. The man sitting on the higher chair (Surely the leader) had an eye patch like a pirate and had dark hair. He began with his speech "Today, we are welcoming a new member. He is the chosen of the Wild Card. Welcome with me the number thirteen: Minato." With this, a young boy walked in the middle of the circle that was surrounded by the others, his face was emotionless. He had blue hair and silver eyes. The hair he had on his forehead was completely hiding his right eye. That how the story of Minato, a Nobody barren of all human feelings, begins.

_**And so, it begins. The members of this version of the Organization 13 will be somewhat different (When I say somewhat different, this means that some of the original members will remain the same) you'll be able to recognize them later. The first chapter is to be expected a waaaay later. Until then, I'll ask you to be patient and to let me hear about your impressions. **_


	2. Number XIV

_**Author's Note: Here comes the chapter n°1. I was already asked about this new Disorga— Er… I mean Organization 13's order, here you go:**_

_**Number 1= Takeharu (He won't have any family link with Mitsuru)**_

_**Number 2= Takaya (evils meet evils)**_

_**Number 3= Akihiko**_

_**Number 4= Koromaru (even he has the right to be here *Bark*)**_

_**Number 5= Shinjiro**_

_**Number 6= Jin**_

_**Number 7= Mitsuru**_

_**Number 8= Junpei**_

_**Number 9=Chidori**_

_**Number 10= Fuuka**_

_**Number 11= Ikutsuki (traitor aboard)**_

_**Number 12= Yukari (Sorry for Yuka-tan's fans, but she will be a bitch here)**_

_**Number 13= Minato**_

_**Number 14= YOU'LL SEE!**_

**I/ Number XIV**

_You gotta figure,_

_Everything starts someplace._

_The closest thing for me_

_Is when I was just seven days old,_

_And I met her._

_Minato's POV:_

I just woke up, and I was already heading to the Common Room. There were some of the other members here: Takaya and Yukari who were sitting on different couches, Mitsuru and Junpei were near the big windows that gave direct view to the Town That Never Was. I noticed soon that almost everything that surrounded me here never really existed for unknown reasons; no one explained it to me. Takaya, who saw me, greeted me.

"Hi newcomer! Welcome in the program, as they say." Yukari noticed me too and she was annoyed as I usually see her.

"Eeeew, you're awake. Not too soon!" Then Junpei walked towards me with his usual smile.

"S'up dude?" Was this really his only way to greet people? Since I wasn't answering, he looked somewhat uneasy and scratched his head, before resuming the conversation.

"Well… The boss wants us to gather in the Round Room: It seems something important is going on there."

"… Round… Room…" Was it the place with the high chairs? I remember being there once, but it seems so blank…

"Well, if you are ready we're going there immediately, it's not as if you can find it yourself." And so, we arrived at destination. I sited on my chair as everyone did. Takeharu, our leader, began with his speech.

"Today, my friends, is a momentous day. I am pleased to announce that a new comrade has been chosen to wear the coat." He marked a pause and a person wearing the same coat as us advanced in the circle in the middle, her face was hidden by her hood.

"Number fourteen." Seeing him or her made me remember the way I first came in this room, it was exactly like this; the fog in my memories began to lift a little. Then, for unknown reasons, the new member faced me with something like a smile.

_After seven days_

_Of clinging to a number and a name_

_I had trouble processing anything else_

_I couldn't tell who the other people wanted from me_

_Or who they really were_

_All I knew was that we weren't really "complete"_

The next day, I walked through the Common Room, and Mitsuru interacted with me.

"Minato, I am in charge of giving you the missions the Organization expects you to complete. When you are ready, come and let me know about it. For this first time, Junpei will accompany you, isn't it right Junpei?!" Junpei turned to our way.

"Dude… Are ya making me the kiddo's mentor now? Okay, kid. Y'heared her? Let's begin! And please, quit acting like a zombie…" Acting like a zombie…? Whatever, he created a Dark Corridor: Those things are supposed to help us to go to other 'Worlds'.

Before I entered it, something got my attention; it was the new member. Junpei noticed it and so did Mitsuru, she proceeded with the introduction.

"Number XIV, Minako."

"Got it memorized, dude? If so, then what was mine?" Junpei asked, out of the blue.

"…Junpei."

"And our boss's"

"Takeharu…"

"Don't ever forget this one!" With it, we finally entered the Dark Corridor. When we got out of the 'Betwixt and Between' (So was the place we saw in the dark corridor was called), we found ourselves in a tunnel.

All I learned today was to find some chests and to 'RTC'. From Junpei, RTC meant 'Return To the Castle'. Where those missions things _that_ easy? Then it really wasn't worth it…

Anyway, after this job was done, Junpei wasn't really willing to go back straight to the castle, he took me to a familiar place: the top of the cloak in Twilight Town, and he gave me the 'icing on the cake' which was an ice cream, I once heard about its name, but I forgot it. And Junpei had to ask this exact question.

"So, what was this ice cream called already?"

"…"

"I already told you once: these are sea-salt ice creams. Get it memorized, man." This ice cream really was salty… But sweet, too.

"Today, you are finally one of us; you are working for the Organization."

_That was my first day working for the Organization_

_They gave me missions, and I carried them out_

_But if you asked me what my job was…_

_I would've just stared at you._


	3. Shadows, Nobodies and Friends

_**Since Nunas The No Name asked me about the titles of the members, I'll be showing them to you immediately as an intro (Especially now that we know n°14's identity) and I'll also give you their descriptions:**_

_**I\ Takeharu= The Superior **_

_**The leader of the organization, he uses spells to nullify the gravity. His weapon is still unknown**_

_**II\ Takaya= The Killer **_

_**The second member of the organization, he is known for his killing experience with guns **_

_**III\ Akihiko= The Lightning Fists **_

_**One of the first members of the organization, he fights bare handed and his punches are as fast as the lightning**_

_**IV\ Koromaru= The Loyal **_

_**A clever dog which can either fight with his fangs and his little knife, he's very loyal to Takeharu**_

_**V\ Shinjiro= The Moon's Hero **_

_**A silent and though guy. He fights using an axe and can create an earthquake only be hitting the ground**_

_**VI\ Jin= The Nerd **_

_**His title describes him well. He passes most of his time reading books or on his computer. He's very skilled with mental controlling abilities and illusions**_

_**VII\ Mitsuru= The Ice Queen **_

_**An elegant woman who seems very calm. But never get on her bad side if you want to avoid her execution. Her weapon is rumored to be a rapier even though no one saw her in an actual mission due to her high grade.**_

_**VIII\ Junpei= The Don-Juan **_

_**A happy-go-lucky man who is very much of a daydreamer and a flirter. He put all his trust in his fire attacks. In battle, he fights with a Katana.**_

_**IX\ Chidori= The Goth Girl **_

_**A very shy and cold girl who don't like being the center of interest. She's more of a spell-caster than a fighter**_

_**X\ Fuuka= The Gatherer **_

_**This girl got a weak constitution, but she is one of the most important tools of the organization: She's the one controlling the hearts' direction to Kingdom Hearts**_

_**XI\ Ikutsuki= The Infiltrator **_

_**A middle aged man who controls sleep spells which helps him to access some very well-guarded places. Actually, his 'jokes' are more than enough to make you sleep. He seems to have leadership ambitions…**_

_**XII\ Yukari= The Pest **_

_**A girl who don't even try to watch her manners. It's like she is doing her best to be hated by everyone. She remains a skilled archer and wind-user**_

_**XIII\ Minato= The Chosen of the Wild Card **_

_**A new member who is revealed to be the Wild Card's chosen: He can invocate mystical monsters to help him. He also is a skilled swordman, so he can use his Evoker to both fight and summon (Here, the Evoker will be a blade instead of a gun).**_

_**XIV\ Minako= The Puppet **_

_**A girl, it seems. She still never took off her hood and never said a word. She seems to be another Chosen of the Wild Card and yet no one saw her use an Evoker. The why she is called 'The Puppet' is still an unknown thing**_

II\ Shadows, Nobodies and Friends

As I entered the common room to receive my mission from Mitsuru, I found her talking with Ikutsuki and waiting for me, surely.

"Minato, today you will be working with Ikutsuki. He will teach you about our main 'targets'. Go whenever you feel ready." She left me with him.

"Well, welcome to the fold, Minato. We should be going, as they say: early birds catch the bookworms!" What was he saying? It didn't make sense at all… Anyway, we moved on and found ourselves in Twilight Town again. This time, we were in the market place and I dared ask.

"Ikutsuki, what is our mission today exactly?" he looked at me with an interrogative expression.

"Oh. Didn't Mitsuru tell you? We are here to show you our main 'targets' which will give us hearts."

"And what are those 'targets' actually?"

"You will see. Minato, could you summon your Evoker for me, please?"

I did as he asked and here was my Evoker; a sword that looks like a giant key. For the first time since I met Ikutsuki, he wore a serious face

"Lucky number XIII… An Evoker-user in our ranks, at last." I didn't understand what he was mumbling and then, something appeared out of nowhere "What is this?"

Ikutsuki answered me simply "Those are Shadows, precisely Cowrdly Mayas. They will release hearts if you can defeat them. That's your mission: to defeat them and release those hearts so they can go to Kingdom hearts. That's why you're special: you're the only one who can do that!"

I looked at him for awhile "Isn't it number X's job to control their direction?"

"You mean Fuuka? She is here so if some hearts can't find their way, she takes care of them. As they say: Follow—" Quick! I have to ask my question before he says another random stuff!

"Ikutsuki, can you tell me what are those Shadows actually?"

It seems my thing worked; he stopped in the middle of his sentence and answered my question "Shadows are dark thoughts of people that they keep deep inside them. With time, they grow into something more troublesome."

More of those Shadows things appeared so I went to destroy them, seeing the hearts flying and disappearing each time I hit them with my Evoker.

In the end, we RTC, my head instead of being lighter of questions was the complete opposite.

The next days, other members of the Organization tutored me about my job and the organization's goal: We were actually a group of people called Nobodies: a bunch of people who are supposed to be dead, but kind of stayed alive, losing our hearts, and we need those hearts to be complete and my Evoker is the only weapon that can release the hearts from the Shadows.

Speaking of which, we share some common points with the Shadows: we both lack hearts, but the difference is that the Shadows are slaves of their 'somebodies' thoughts while we have some independence.

I thoughts that was all I needed to know about them, but Shinjiro told me that they also were divided into two kinds of Shadows, but it was still too complex for me to understand…

I also learned how to: use some spells, fight with my weapon when I'm in my 'last legs' and investigate the areas. But most importantly, I learned that there were many other worlds than The World That Never Was and Twilight Town.

If I was asked what I thought of the other members, I would say that we had our good apples and our bad ones. But we all seek the same thing: Kingdom Hearts.

One day, as I got to the Grey Room, Junpei told me that we were on a common mission for the second time. At least, he's not as strict as Jin or Shinjiro and not as annoying as Yukari…

Also, today was my first day of 'actual mission'. Mitsuru told me that the goal was to fight a certain number of Shadows to get some hearts.

We arrived in Twilight Town and began searching for Shadows. They didn't take too much time before showing up. I summoned my Evoker and attacked them, they weren't that strong… AAwww! One that I didn't noticed launched a fireball behind me and sent me flying backward.

He was about to repeat the action when Junpei shielded me, apparently not affected by fire-based attacks. He used a potion on me and I got on my feet quickly to continue with the task.

At last, we released a certain amount of hearts, more than we were asked to since I wanted to apply what Jin told me about 'being diligent with my missions'.

"So Minato, how about we go and have some ice creams?" asked Junpei out of the blue.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because we're friends, right dude?" He said simply. Do I have to understand that 'friends' are people who eat ice creams together? I asked him this exact thing and he answered.

"Well, sort of… That or, laugh at some stupid stuff that doesn't make any sense." Stuff that doesn't make any sense…

"You mean things like Ikutsuki's weird sentences?" He looked at me with a horrified face.

"H-Hold on! Not _**that**_much of stupidity." With this, we ended up laughing. Wait a sec!

"Junpei, we just laughed, right?"

"Yes, so what?"

"Then we're really friends!"

"Well, you can actually say that."

Then, we went to the top of the tower and ate ice creams like last time. We kept eating until Junpei spoke.

"Hey Minato, how 'bout we meet up here again after your next mission? I mean, who wants to live only between missions and the Castle?"

"Not me!" And we laughed again. That's how I passed all the following days' after mission period eating ice creams with Junpei, my first friend.

~_Some days later~_

Junpei and I were assigned for a common mission today, it's been a while. Our mission was to defeat a Shadow called The Magician. Destination Twilight Town again.

As we proceeded through the town of the eternal sunset, we found nothing but usual Shadows, no Magician. Until we reached the Market Place, there was waiting a huge Shadow with multiple hands, 13 after counting them. It was holding swords in six of them while six others were maintaining it on balance. The last hand was holding a blue mask with black holes as eyes and mouth.

"Looks like it's show time!" said Junpei while summoning his Katana.

He rushed toward the monster and slashed him which caused the later to make a jump backward. But he had his guard down so the thing hit him with two of his sabers making him fall on the ground and scream in pain. What was I waiting for? I should be helping him!

"Hold on Junpei!" I used a potion on him and blocked another of the Shadow's sword attack with my Evoker. Meanwhile, the fire-master got on his feet and launched a fireball right on the heart bearer's mask, making him roar, surely of pain.

"Thanatos! I summon you!" My Persona appeared and launched at the enemy ripping apart three of his arms.

"Nice one, dude!" said Junpei while charging another fired assault on the Magician which, this time, dodged it by jumping on the other side. It then used a wind based spell to reject us backward making us crash on the nearby wall.

"Tsk! He's though…" I managed to say.

"Maybe we should try a trick." I frowned at the suggestion.

"And what kind of trick?"

"How 'bout we team up for real, this time?"

"Team up… for real?" I repeated, not knowing what he meant.

"Yeah, up 'til now, we've been fighting separately. We must try something else: Drive it crazy if you see what I mean. Got it memorized, dude?"

We didn't have more time to speak since the Shadow tried to charge at us once more. We managed to escape the assault and retrieve our balances.

"Whenever you're ready Minato!"

"You bet I am!"

We got ready for the second round of the battle and charged the Magician with all what we've got.

I ran towards it, evading some of his dangerous swords attacks, the more I evaded them, the angrier the monster became and its attacks were fiercer and harder to dodge.

At a certain moment, he launched a powerful attack and I was unable to get out of the way so I prepared to try and block it, or at least to reduce the damage it would cause. All until the sword collided with something else than my Evoker.

Number VIII used his Katana to shield me from the enemy's strike, but I could tell he wouldn't last long. I looked at this with big eyes and my mouth wide open.

"W-What are you waiting for?! Act, quickly!" he managed to yell before focusing again on the Shadow.

I shook my head to wake up from my confusion and held my weapon with both of my hands to put an end to the struggle between 'my friend' and the shadow. I cut the arm holding the sword and it fell to the ground, shaking a little before stopping from moving completely.

Now, he was left with only two active arms. We easily got rid of them, since the fight got easier now. I wouldn't be able to describe the way we did so: all I know for sure is that we've been 'teaming up'.

Once he was left without any offensive way of riposte, he used what was left of him to try and escape the battlefield.

"Hey, you're not going anywhere, monster!" the my partner said before looking at me. We nodded to each other before reuniting and we prepared to combine two of our skills.

I summoned one of my Personas and ordered him to use a basic wind spell. Junpei, on the other hand, launched one his fire spells. It resulted in a gust of burning wind that made the monster fly and burn to aches. In the end, we won!

"Huh… huh… We did it!" I yelled as loud as I could raising my hand that was holding my weapon to the sunset sky of the town.

"Yeah… *pant*… This one sure was though, but we managed to kick it ass!" He looked at me for awhile longer and then he said.

"Whew! You really got strong Minato! Maybe your even stronger than me—Wait! No! You still have a lot to learn before keeping up with me!" Hahah! He won't admit it, but I think I somehow surpassed him.

"Oh really? I don't think so…" He starred at me for a while, pretending to pout, but we ended up laughing as usual.

After that, we went to the tower to see the sunset and eat ice creams. "Hey Minato, I wanted to tell ya that starting tomorrow, we won't be able to eat ice creams together." His words surprised me, a lot! I wasn't expecting him to say this.

"Why?"

" 'Cause I'll be away from here for a while… Well, since we're buddies, I'll tell ya where I'll go. I'm off for Tartarus: The nest of the Shadows."

I gave him an interrogative look "The nest of the Shadows?"

"Yes, we'll be there to investigate a thing or two. So half of the organization will be left here, including you."…

"Well, take your time now! I must prepare for tomorrow."

With that he left, and I finished eating my ice cream. Then, I noticed something: on the stick of the ice cream was written 'WINNER'.

The next day, I searched for Junpei in the common room to ask him what I won, but I didn't found him.

"If you are searching for Number VIII, you won't find him: He already left." said Mitsuru who just arrived.

"By the way, starting today, you will be executing missions alongside Minako." She added before walking to her usual spot, near the windows.

Minako and I went the Twilight Town and began the mission: Killing a Shadow plant. The monster was pretty hard to find; it was hiding in the town's station's undergrounds. But, it was easy to defeat since it weakness was fire.

After that, I told Minako to RTC and went to tower and have some ice cream. During the whole mission, Minako didn't say a word nor took of her hood, weird… Other than that, I was beginning to feel a little something in my chest: maybe it was because I was alone today.

I was paired with Minako the next day too. This time, we had to defeat some specific Shadows that weren't strong at all, but man! They were fast! And after the mission, I told Minako to RTC alone again.

"M… Minato…" Am I dreaming? Or did she actually say something?

"Y-Yes, did you say something?"

"Your name… Is Minato… isn't it?"

"Yes Minako, I'm Minato." I answered, still surprised. It felt… Awkward, not only the conversation, but also the resemblance in our name: only the 't' and the 'k' were making them different.

She disappeared into the dark corridor and I went to have and ice cream. Alone. Was my name the very first thing she ever said? Whatever, I wasn't enjoying my ice cream at all when I was alone.

As I entered the Grey Room the next day, Mitsuru gave me the mission immediately

"Today again you are teaming up with Minako. Get ready ASAP, the monster you're facing today is a Dark Side; a giant Shadow that is very strong."

We both got ready and went to Twilight Town. When we arrived, Minako finally took off her hood.

She had a face that looked like mine, but her eyes and hair had a scarlet color and she was smiling.

"Good luck today." She said

"T-Thanks. You too Minako." I was at loss of words. Was it because of our common appearance? Or because I finally had a conversation with her?

We made our way to the top of the hill and there was the enemy. For a giant Shadow, it was a giant one. It was all dark and had a hole in his chest which looked like a heart.

"Get ready Minako!"

"All right!" I launched at the Dark Side and slashed his left hand repetitively, as for Minako, she stayed back since she didn't have a weapon and used fire skills.

The giant Shadow itself didn't stay like a fool here; he was giving strong punches on the ground, creating earthquakes and impacts on us. After a moment, he prepared a strong punch which I blocked with my Evoker, but I lost the control of the later and it fell to the ground, to Minako's feet. It disappeared to reappear in her hands!

"M-Minako…" I was stun here, looking at what happened next. I was told that she had the ability to hold an Evoker, but it was witnessing it with my own eyes. Right now, right here.

She rushed toward the monster and slashed it with a strength that I recognize to be Thor's, killing it with this single strike.

"Wow! Minako, so you really can wield an Evoker!"

"Yeah. At first, I wasn't sure about it…" at that moment, I remembered the day of my first mission for the organization, when Junpei took me to the tower to reward me…

"I guess I should reward you with the icing on the cake!" I said, still remembering how Junpei said the exact same thing to me.

That's how I brought her to our special place; the tower.

"How did you find such a great place?" she asked me.

"I'm not totally the one who founded it… Well, here you go!" I handed her a sea-salt ice cream.

"It's sweet. But kinda salty too." Hahah, that make me think of my first time eating this…

"I meet up with Junpei after each mission here. He, apparently, took me here on my first day in the organization, but I don't quiet remember. Then he brought me here again on my first day of mission, saying this was the 'icing on the cake'." She looked at me with a smile.

"A reward?"

"Yeah, exactly!"

"You must be close…" Well, I don't know, but one thing's sure… "Junpei is my first friend."

She turned to face me again "Friend… Minato, do you think I could be a friend?"

"When Junpei is back, let's ask him. So the three of us can eat ice creams together!" she smiled and agreed.

"Okay." We continued eating our ice creams, watching the sunset.

(A/N: Minato is a guy and Minako a chick. They're on the top of a tower where no one can see them, eating ice creams and watching the sunset. Am I the only one have a M rated feeling about this or… is this the harsh reality?)

_**Whew! Finally done! Sorry for the long wait, but I wanted to rewrite this chapter to make it sound better (make the paragraphs shorter, detail the fights and the characters' expressions more...)**_

_**Anyway, I decided that there would be no Castle Oblivion here… But, I never said I wouldn't put Tartarus! Anyway, do tell me if you liked it, and if not, I'll ask you to voice the thing or things my story lack of. With that: read, enjoy and review!**_


	4. Did Something Happened To Junpei?

_**III\ Did something happened to Junpei?**_

I woke up this morning, eager to know what was today's mission and hoping that I would work with Minako. I wasn't expecting what I heard in a tiny bit.

I entered the common room and saw Akihiko and Chidori, talking about something. "… Are you sure about what you're saying?" asked Akihiko. "I only reported what I heard." Said The Goth Girl. From the look on their faces, I could tell it was a serious matter, even if the both of them are serious most of the time.

Takaya, who was just near of me, was one the older member and one of the closest to Takeharu-sama, so I decided to ask him about what was happening.

"Is everything okay?" I asked. He looked at me for awhile before answering with a smile, just like he wasn't caring about it in the least. "Okay? As if! It seems one or two of the folks we sent to Tartarus were terminated." I raised an eyebrow when he said this. I was about to ask what it really meant when Mitsuru came to interrupt me.

"Minato, your mission. You are going to Agrabah and you'll team up with Takaya. We want you to investigate the place." She said "But, about Tartarus, how's Junpei?" I tried to ask. "It's none of your businesses. Who knows, maybe he's one of the lost. Focus on your mission, now!" She ordered coldly.

You talk about bad luck… First, I'll have to team up with some kind of psychopath. Second, Junpei, my only friend besides of Minako might be gone forever.

"By the way, Minato, I forgot to mention that now, in the light of your excellent performance, you have been promoted to the rank of Novice." Informed me Mitsuru.

I guess it is a good thing to get a promotion but, with the current event, I somewhat can't see the positive points.

Before leaving, a paper caught my attention. All the members sent to Tartarus had their names written on it:

_Number IV: Koromaru.

_Number VI: Jin.

_Number VIII: Junpei.

_Number X: Fuuka.

_Number XI: Ikutsuki.

_Number XII: Yukari.

Both I and Takaya went to our destination, Agrabah. On first look, it seems to be a town in the middle of a desert; a hot desert. Takaya didn't miss the opportunity to comment about it.

"Oh god… I'm already frying out here. Hey, kiddo! Let's get this investigation done with quickly, got it?"

For some reasons I couldn't get over this morning's news so I asked him again to make sure. "Do you think it's true— what happened to the members sent to Tartarus?"

He looked at me just as if I cracked some weird joke. "What? Is this really what's eating you?" He was talking like he didn't care at all if we lost one member or more.

"We might have lost a comrade! Who knows, maybe more than one. It doesn't bother you at all?" he just smirked at my concern. "As if."

Seeing that I wasn't going to move a finger now because of my reflection, he tried to motivate me to focus on the mission. "Look, kid. The sooner we get this work done, the sooner you'll RTC to get your answer." Well, he tried. I just nodded.

This investigation seemed simple and complex at the same time, even if there were Shadows around, they weren't of any trouble: The town was obviously covered in sand, since it was located in the middle of the desert, but at the same time, there was too much sand on some corners and walls. Even the stores, if you can call them stores, had their merchandise covered in sand. In some other corners, it did occur that we saw ropes and lumbers. Why? I don't know. There was also that huge door that, from Takaya's deduction, leaded to a royal court. That was what we deduced while investigating the first two streets. Actually, I couldn't fully focus due to what happened in Tartarus…

Takaya was commenting about how hard it seemed to live around this town and all, but I wasn't paying attention to what he was saying until he woke me up from my reverie. We accessed the third street which seemed to be the limit of what we could explore since it was leading to the entrance of the town. What lies beyond this limit is… more sand, and a storm.

In this part of the town, the sand dune seemed more present and bigger and the walls were more damaged than in the other streets, at a point you can tell that they can collapse at any time.

"So, this town is covered in sand as we noticed it earlier and the explanation to it is that we are in the middle of a desert, it makes sense." I resumed. "Makes sense? Heh! As if. The walls are here to prevent THAT to happen. Try again."

"Well, the only other conclusion is that the town got hit by a sandstorm which explains the damage on the walls."

Takaya just clapped and said "Bingo! But not just once or twice, actually, sandstorms are pretty frequent here. Now, what can you tell about the lumber and ropes, Minato?"

"That place is a wreck." I said. "Uh-huh, but also: All those buildings supplies lying around and that scaffolding are proofs that the citizens are rebuilding the town. It seems we got what we were looking for, we can go and RTC, now.

On our way back when we were about to step in the street where we came from, we saw two people, a man and a woman talking. We climbed a wall and spied on them from a safe distance; I remember when Jin told me, during my first investigation training, that we shouldn't at ANY price being seen by normal people.

"You're working too hard, Aladdin. You should have some rest, don't you think?" said the young lady.

"No, I should be alright. Plus, if we don't hurry up, the next sandstorm will strike again before we're done." Argued the young man.

They continued their discussion, which was useless for us, before finally leaving. I remembered seeing a sandstorm not far from the entrance; at this rate… "They will never make it in time; the next sandstorm will strike in no time. And they also have to deal with all those Shadows…" I said, sharing my opinion. "Correct! The Shadows! You picked a juicy bit there. See, the storm and the Shadows. What if they weren't unrelated? Well now, that should be enough: We have the info we need and we got a peek on their leaders." he pointed.

With that, we prepared to RTC. In front of the dark portal that we created, Takaya defeated another Shadow that was standing in our way and then, something came on my mind. "Takaya, what happens to them? I mean, the Shadows, when you destroy them. Where are they going?"

He turned to face me and then answered "Nowhere. They completely disappear. Only the hearts they release remain and they are the ones that go somewhere: Kingdom Hearts."

This answer had me worried about… us, the Nobodies "So, how about persons like you and I? The Nobodies."

He looked at me with an annoyed expression "Tsk! You should already know that we are not even supposed to 'be'. What do you think we could leave, huh?" So the comrades in Tartarus… "Then the terminated members are—" "Gone, forever."

His words made me… 'Sad'? I don't even know what sad means; it's like you are worried but know that nothing will help to make it go. Maybe I don't understand it because I don't have a 'heart'…

"Are you coming?" Takaya once again woke me up from my reverie. I nodded and started to walk toward the dark corridor when suddenly, my head felt heavy and my eyes too. I collapsed on the ground, and fall unconscious.

At this moment, I had visions: the faces of Junpei and Minako started to appear in front of me, in a dark space. After some of these images passed, I saw a blank room with drawings on papers that were covering the walls. In this room, there was also a table and chairs, all blank.

On one of the chairs was sitting a girl: She had short blond hair, with a white dress and her face… She sure looked like she was the same age as me but her face looked so fragile, just like the one of a baby, especially with her blue eyes.

She was drawing something on a drawing pad. I tried to ask who she was, but my vision turned black again.

_Narrator POV:_

_~The dark margin~_

_Two persons with black coats hiding their face with their hoods could be seen in a place that looked like a beach, a dark beach. One of them, the tallest, was sitting on a rock while the other just arrived through a dark corridor and walked toward the tall man._

_Noticing that he was approaching, the older one pronounced those words "I've been to see him. He looks a lot like you."_

"_Who are you?" asked the younger man. "I'm what's left. Or… maybe I'm all that ever was." Responded the other. "I meant your name" "My name is of no importance. What about you? Do you remember your true name?" asked the tall man back._

"_My true name is…" "You have been with us for six days now. The time has come…" said the older man while getting up to leave, taking off his hood, revealing his dark hair and his yellow eyes, or his healthy yellow eye since the other was hidden with an eye patch._

_~The Castle that never was: Minato's room~_

Minato was lying on his bed, surrounded by Takeharu and Mitsuru; he lost consciousness right before arriving to the castle. Takaya, who noticed that his fellow comrade wasn't behind him, returned to the place where he last saw him and found him on the ground unconscious. He made sure that he was still breathing and alive and brought him back to the castle.

"Aigis must have begun her work." Said Mitsuru. "Will he wake up?" asked Takeharu. "I am told he will—provided she strips the future hero from all his memories. Number XIV has shown her ability with the Evoker; she will be able to fill Minato's shoes for the time being." Answered the Ice Queen.

"About the room… Did you find it?" asked again the superior. Mitsuru looked down and answered "No, sir. Progress is slow. If we can actually saw we made any."

Mitsuru left the room and Takeharu stayed there, watching the blue haired teen. "So, sleep has taken you yet again…"

_~22 days later~_

During 22 days, Minato was still unconscious and Minako used to visit him daily, telling him about her days in the other worlds, about the other members… she was telling him about anything and everything.

One day, after she talked to her friend, she left something near his pillow: It was some kind of a keychain with a Jack Frost figurine attached to it; she found it days prior, before Minato went unconscious. She was visiting a world called the Destiny Islands; a world she liked more than the others due to the atmosphere there. The world itself was, just like its name showed it, a bunch of islands one near the other.

On one of the beaches, she found something lying on the sand: it was the Jack Frost keychain. She found it cute so she took it with her, as her lucky charm.

"I'll leave it to you until you wake up. But, you'll have to give it back to me when you do, got it? Well, see you soon."

_~The next day~_

_Minato's POV:_

"I knew I would find you snoozing down here."

This voice… what was it? Who was talking to me? Wait, where am I?

I got up from what seemed to be my bed and found a keychain with a funny snowman figurine attached to it. How long have been asleep already? I went to the Grey Room only to find that no one was here. I checked the schedule on the wall and… I have been asleep for 23 days?! How is that possible?

Since I had nothing to do, I went to the top of Twilight Town's tower to watch the sunset.

"Minato?!" called a familiar voice. As I expected, it was Minako. "Minako… what happened to me?" I asked.

"You have been sleeping. A long, long time. Mitsuru told us not to get our hopes up, that you might not—anyway, you're awake; that's what counts."

"Ugh, I feel like a Zombie; looks like there are things a nap can't cure…" I said, joking. We ended up laughing about it; it's… funny how we get along between 'friends'.

"By the way, I found this when I woke up; are you the one—" "Yeah, it's my lucky charm. I like to have it when I feel alone, so I left it to you. Try to shake it!"

I did as she said and heard a little voice laughing "Hee-hoo! Hee-hoo!" I couldn't help but smile. I then handed it to Minako, it's only fair that I give it back to her.

Then next day, as I entered the Grey Room to get my new mission, I noticed the presence of Fuuka. If she's here then… it means Junpei might have survived too! I was so happy that I rushed toward The Gatherer "Fuuka! You're back! Who else is here? Tell me!" "U-Umm… M-Minato…" She managed to say while her cheeks were taking a red color. I was so carried away that I didn't notice that I was asking too much questions at the same time and that I was now holding her hands. I released them after I noticed it, feeling my face burn for some reasons.

"S-Sorry Fuuka, I just wanted to know if Junpei made it here too." I explained. She stayed silent for a moment, looking down. In the end, she finally decided to answer.

"Number VIII, Junpei, disappeared after the death of Number XI, Ikutsuki, and Number XII, Yukari. Only I and Number IV, Koromaru, came back alive." She informed me. But she said that Junpei was missing; that doesn't mean he's gone forever.

"When you're done flirting with Number X, Minato, maybe you will be able to begin with all those missions waiting just for you." Said a too familiar voice. With that, the little amount of members in the room: Takaya, Shinjiro and Chidori, started to laugh at us. Sometimes, Mitsuru really give me the desire to yell at her.

"Mitsuru, do you have any news about the other members sent to Tartarus?" I asked, hoping that she would have something to tell me about Junpei and trying to control my desire of ice-destruction.

"Finish your missions; what I know is only my business." She said.

The next days of mission were so boring that I really wasn't in the mood to talk about them, until my 71st day here, in the organization…

As always, I headed to the common room to get my mission. "Today, we want you to destroy some Shadow Globs in Twilight Town. The problem is, they are a little hard to detect with your eyes only so… Oh! You're going with Number X. Try to put your duty ahead instead of flirting… If you want to avoid 'Execution'…" Man! Mitsuru's such pain! Why is she interested in what only concerns me?! Or wait a sec… "Give me my missions; who I get along with is only my business" Hahah! Take this, Ice Queen! She just stood here, staring at me before calming down.

Fuuka and I headed to our destination. The Gatherer made a quick scan of the area and got positive results; the Shadow Globs were all over this town. So, we have to destroy them and try to ignore the Shadows since it's not our main mission today.

…

The work was quickly done, or most of it; some of the Shadow Globs were unattainable "It's impossible to reach them, if only I could fly or something like that…" I muttered to myself. "Umm, Minato?" "Hell! Even jumping from a platform won't help." "M-Minato, please listen…" "Urgh! It's just as if they didn't want us to complete the mission and get the bonus prizes!" "Minato, listen!" Fuuka yelled, finally getting my attention. "What is it?" I asked. "Why don't you get near these globs and try to destroy them with a basic fire-ball?"

(Crow pass-by)

Now I regret not listening to her earlier. "That's an idea, thanks Fuuka. And sorry." "C-Come on, I just helped: it's normal." We stayed in awkward silence for a moment until I decided to destroy the remaining Shadow Globs.

Once we were done with the work, I asked Fuuka to go ahead and RTC before me. After she did, I prepared to go to the tower when suddently, a voice called me; a familiar voice "Hey, Minato! How are ya doing?"

I turned to face the owner of the voice and saw…

_To be continued_

* * *

_**One thing's sure, I kept you waiting guys, sorry about that. Man, this was the hell of a chapter; I hope it came out well and that you liked it. By the way guys, do you think there must be a pairing(s) in this story? Do tell me about it via reviews or PM, and if most of the answers are positive, I'll create a poll so you can choose (Yeah, I think I'll just go with your choice). With that, goodbye! **_


	5. Team Tartarus

_**The previous chapter ended leaving a suspense. But before we proceed with Minato's story, aren't you guys a little curious to know what happened in Tartarus? Then you'll be served! Sit back and enjoy your reading!**_

_**IV\ Team Tartarus**_

_~Flashback~_

As Junpei was making his way to the common room, he thought about how unlucky he has been the day before: after eating his ice cream with Minato, he tried, once again, to flirt with the number IX of the organization, Chidori. The Goth Girl, however, wasn't the easy type and didn't thought twice before turning him down.

"Man! Why am I called the Don-Juan if I can't seduce only one, single, pink-heard girl?!" he shouted raising his fist in the air. He then heard the sound of someone clearing his throat… or actually her throat since it was 'nobody' else than Mitsuru.

"When you are done speaking to yourself, maybe you will be able to hear what I have to tell you, number VIII," said the red-head in a tone as cold as her element, but Junpei wasn't the kind of nobody who would get offended by such words.

"Oh, Mitsuru. What do you have to tell me, right now? Could it be that you finally saw the man that you've been seeking for ages in me, Junpei, the manliest member of the organi—" Junpei never finished his sentence; Mitsuru cut him right in the middle of it.

"Takeharu-sama is suspicious about one or two members we are sending in Tartarus: it seems they are preparing a betrayal plan. He ordered me to tell you to keep an eye on them and even annihilate every single member involved in this complot."

The master of fire just sighed; he never really liked receiving orders, but what he hated more than anything was to be cut in the middle of a sentence. "Well well, if this is a direct order from the Superior, then I don't have much of a choice, right?" the Ice Queen just smiled ironically

"Glad that you at least know the limit of your options…"

After that, she left and Junpei thought while crossing his arms and shaking his head "_Man, will that girl care about something else than work, one day? But, when you think about it; she is younger than me so… Heheh... Anyways, maybe I should tell Minato about the whole thing later._"

"Oh and, by the way" added the Ice Queen before leaving "I have a personal request for you: Find ANY excuse to make Jin involved in this mess… And get rid of him!" the man with the goatee raised an eyebrow and replied "I don't think this is part of the Superior's orders." Mitsuru just stared at him

"Do it and you're a tranquil Nobody. Ignore my command and you're a dead one." Junpei just sighed yet again before creating a dark corridor

"I don't think I can be deader than this, but I'll see what I can do…" he then, disappeared in the black exit.

_~End of the flashback~_

_Junpei's POV:_

When I think that we were sent here to find some 'room' in this tower: A tower that's so high that it even reaches the ski, if it doesn't go even further beyond this limit. And on top of this, I, of all Nobodies, have to play the role of the spy because 'Someone might prepare a betrayal plan…' my ass! Well, at least I still have Fuuka-chan and Yuka-tan to 'deal' with, hihi! Oh, and there is also a new Nobody with us here… what was he name? Aigis!

We entered the hall of the huge tower and established our first checkpoint there; No Shadows were hanging around these kinds of places, at least.

"We should signal our arrival to the HQ immediately. Then, we must begin the investigation of the place to find any useful clue to locate the room we are searching for. We also have to begin stripping the little boy's memories—"

And here goes Jin with his blabbering, adjusting his new contact device or whatever it was… What can I say? NEEERRRD! On second thoughts, I will kind of enjoy killing him; you can be happy about that, Mitsuru.

"Hey, Stupei! Move your ass you useless imbecile! I swear to god; why are we teaming up with that good for nothing couch-potato?!" as friendly as usual, Yuka-tan. Again, I was standing in front of the stairs so…

"Umm… Yukari…" shyly tried to say Fuuka.

"What is it, Freaka?" she knows no limit, huh?

"First, could drop that nickname, please? Second, we are not allowed to move to the upper level before getting the green light from the Castle." When it came to defend her honor, Fuuka could easily forget a little about her shyness. The 'best Pest' we had in our group just gave her a stare of contempt before turning her head from the Gatherer and going to have some kind of talk with Ikutsuki.

It's weird. It's weird that those two have been spending so much time together lately. I might as well keep an eye on them.

"Hey, Jin. Ya got some news from them?" I asked.

"Yes; they're asking use to split into two groups: one will investigate the upper side of the tower to keep an eye on Aigis at the same time while the other will take care of the basement. The room could be anywhere."

We proceeded to split into two groups: the one investigating the upper levels was made of me, Ikutsuki and Yukari which gives me a golden chance to keep a permanent eye on them. The second group investigating the lower levels has got Fuuka, Koromaru and Jin which, in the other hand, gives me little opportunity to 'take care' of him.

As our trio made his way all through Thebel, the first upper block of the tower, we took every opportunity to investigate all what was around us. Well, actually, I took these opportunities since the two others weren't really into the whole thing.

"So, could it be you guys are tired of being… Tired?" I asked, trying to get them into business… With no success.

"Why should we?! You should do just like us and take it easy: the best way to enjoy your 'life' is to do whatever you want: Everyone knows this!" Yukari ironically pointed.

"_Maybe it's just because 'everyone' won't get out of here alive…_" I said in a whisper.

"Um? What was that you're blabbering about, Stupei?" curiously asked Yukari.

"Oh! Don't mind me, miss: it is just Junpei being random again." I replied, adding in my mind '_Randomly fatal for you guys…Humhumhum._"

* * *

The next days were quite… Boring and repetitive: we were spending our days searching for a ghost room that might not exist at all and on top of that we had to play the baby-sitters with Aigis who, to my deception, is about Minato's age…

The girl was as tall as my blue-haired friend, with blond hair and blue eyes that were similar to the ones of an angel; it was one of the reasons that made me regret the fact that she wasn't more… mature for me. She wore a long blue dress and a pair of light blue sandals.

Man… I need to flirt in my life, you know? What would the world be for me without romance and chicks?

Of course, we couldn't investigate the different floors of Tartarus AND keep an eye on the kid, so we decided to divide the work: we would design one of us in turn to guard the girl and the two others would do the day's work.

* * *

Today, it was decided that I would investigate with Yuka-tan will Ikutsuki stayed with Aigis. For some reasons, I always thought that guy was weird and that, aside from telling boring jokes, he had a little something for kids… Whatever, he won't live long enough to let me know if this is the truth.

Teaming up with the brunette girl was for me the best opportunity to put my plan in action, the plan I prepared for a moment which consisted in winning the duo's trust to THEN surprise them.

As we were proceeding through a floor of a new zone, Arqua, I slowly turned to face Yukari who was behind me and addressed the most seductive smile I had in my stock.

"Yuka-tan~~"

"What do you want, Stupei? And what's up with that dirty look on your face, you want me to correct you or what?!" I decided to ignore her words and closed the distance between us, causing her to take a step back.

"Y'know? I never really liked receiving orders from a guy who's half blind; I prefer my leader to be a sexy, smart and imposing woman." I hope she fall for this: I'm practically using my 120% here!

She was trying her best to hide the small blush that appeared on her cheeks "W-What do you mean, moron?"

"I mean, why do we have to follow the Superior's orders when we can end his non-existence: you could become the glorious queen that will replace him for the best… and I would be you loyal knight, ready to die for you and to satisfy every single desire you have…" I said while getting closer to her and placed my hands on her shoulders. If, I want to get them to let me in their little plan, I have to play it like I was about to do the same thing as well.

She responded with one of her evil grins and put her little finger on my chin, letting me guess that my plan was proving to be successful.

"You're not that much of a useless idiot, after all," she said before pushing me back, much to my surprise "Get this work done with quickly, and then we'll talk about it more… Tranquilly."

Perfect… Actually, it's easier than I thought! Let's hope that Lady Luck stick with me longer.

After the both of us were done with the searching of the room which, do I have to precise, was unsuccessful, we returned to our last checkpoint where Ikutsuki and Augis were waiting for us.

Yukari didn't wait long before walking toward the Infiltrator and tell him, with her eternal smirk, loud enough for me to hear "It looks like goatee wants to join forces with us. What do you think?"

At first, the annoying jokes creator just looked at me with curiosity, but then, he wore his dumb smile again and said "Well, I don't mind at all. As they say: the more the merrier! Hmhm, excuse me for using this joke right now."

Every single one of us in the room felt a sweat cooling behind their head: can't he tell the difference between a joke and a proverb? Anyways, he didn't just stop here.

"However, we'll need you to prove your loyalty to us first by completing one of our little… works." He said while taking a packet of cigarettes out of one of his pockets and lighter from another.

"Aaaand…? What is that 'work' you're talking about?"

He picked a cigarette from the packet and put it on his mouth while trying to light it "We want you to get Jin alone and then…"

"And then…?" I asked, watching the middle aged man light his fag and take a smoke.

"Kill him, incognito, and we'll let you propose the plan if you have one" He finished while releasing smoke from his mouth. Is it only me, or does everyone has a grudge against this nerd? That aside, it looks like Lady Luck really is one my side today! I get to win the duo's trust AND eliminate Jin. This is what I call: killing two birds with one stone!

"Now that I think about it, I might have a plan to get rid of him," I said, getting the two's attention "You both know how much of a bootlicker that nerd is with the Superior, right?" actually, I had this planed in my head for a moment, but now was the best opportunity to bring it out.

"Uh-huh, so what?" Yukari asked, impatient.

"Well, I'll just have to get to come up here and when he least expects it…"

"Yeah…?" Ikustsuki asked.

"We'll jump on him—" Before ending my sentence, the Pest cut me.

"YOU jump on him, remember: it's your mission!" Ah, Yuka-tan Yuka-tan, I can't wait to finish you off next, you know?

"As I was saying: I'll take care of him myself, since this is what you want me to do, and then, we'll begin planning on how to take the Superior down. But first, I'll send Fuuka and Koromaru back to the Castle so they don't disturb us."

Ikutsuki stopped smoking and looked at me with a puzzled look "And how are you going to get rid of them?"

"Trust me on this one: it's my mission, after all." I said with enough confidence while Ikutsuki resumed his smoke.

* * *

At the end of each day of work after that, I would stay near the entrance by teleporting with the access point in our checkpoint, and I would survey if Fuuka was there: the first part of my plan is to talk with her alone and who knows when she will come up here.

Finally, one day, I saw here coming from the basement stairs and that's when I ran to her, using a small amount of fire to help sweat, and I pretended that I was out of breath.

"J-Junpei! What's happening?" she asked concerned.

"*breath* the strongest types of Shadows have gathered and are beginning a rampage from the upper levels of the tower to, maybe, the lowest part of the basement. They got Ikutsuki and Yukari *breath*… call Jin; I'll need his help. And I want you and Koromaru to hide in your checkpoint: If you don't hear ANY news of us by the morning, then report us to the HQ as 'terminated'… and go back to the Castle straight after that!" Ah… I think I deserve an Oscar for my performance, right now.

Anyways, Fuuka tried to protest, but I told her that we couldn't risk too much members for this operation, so she obeyed me without any further trouble.

I waited a short time before, from the stairs, appeared a blue haired man.

"W-What is that Shadow rampage about?!"

"No time to explain! We have to join the two others in our checkpoint, quickly!" we both rushed to the access point, making sure that I was behind Jin so I could experience the fear in his eyes when I finish him.

We entered the room where we established our rest point yesterday, and I left the Nerd look around.

"Could it be that they were killed already? No, there's no mark of fights. Maybe they're—" enough talking already.

"Jin… Jin… Jin… Y'know? Everyone hates it when you release statement after statement in a record time. In an organization, we can't allow a hated member to 'exist'…" I said while discretely summoning my Katana and moving forward.

"The hell are you talking about Junp—" before he could completely turn to face me, I rushed towards him and cut his torso diagonally with my weapon.

*blop* *blop* *blop*

I stared at the red liquid dropping from Jin's injury and from my sword, forming a pool of blood. I raised my head and looked in his eyes full of fear and smiled at him.

"What with the long face? You should be happy, now shouldn't you? Instead of being no one, you can finally be nothing…"

The blue haired man didn't have the occasion to hear most of what I said, since he was already vanishing to nothingness. Only his blood remained.

It's a good thing that I finished him immediately; if I tried to mess around with him, he would have easily used one of his illusions tricks and I would have been imprisoned the rest of the eternity…

My thoughts were interrupted as I soon heard clapping sounds coming from behind me. I think I pretty much don't need to turn to know who it is.

"Good job on this one, Number VIII. I can actually say that you can be in the big leagues, now." These were Ikutsuki's words for sure.

I also heard footsteps approaching me and recognized that it was someone wearing high-heels boots; it was Yukari. She came in front of me and put her hands on my shoulder before saying seductively "Well then, handsome. You aren't as bad as I thought…"

I decided to look away to hide the little grin on my face, I will enjoy killing Yuka-tan. Yeah, I really will enjoy it…

"By the way, how did you manage to get Number X and IV out of your way?" Ikutsuki asked while holding Aigis' shoulder, I almost forgot she was here with us.

She looked kind of confused about all what was happening around her; she isn't supposed to have anything to do with our bloody plans, but she has no other choice than to stay with us, like a prisoner.

I answered Number XI's question, smiling confidently: I told him all what I've been doing to make my plan successful (censoring the part concerning them, of course…). They looked kind of satisfied by my work so far.

What about eradicating them, you ask? I'll let them enjoy a day or two before I reveal my true face.

Indeed, the next day, Ikutsuki decided to send Yuka-tan in the basements so she can make sure that Fuuka and Koromaru are gone; this was my chance to kill them both! It would of course be wiser to start with Ikutsuki who's right in front of me and finish him the same way I did with Jin. Then, I will join Number XII in the basements and do the same.

The brunette went to accomplish the mission she was given, but not before cursing us both, and then, I was left alone with my victim and the blonde haired girl. He talked while having his back turned to me.

"So, Junpei. Now that we're left man-to-man, how about we exchange some jokes?" He proposed, ignoring the kid who was sitting on a chair, drawing as usual.

"…Mmm… Yeah, why not? I've got a particularly funny one for you… it's actually a riddle." he nodded to himself.

"Um-hum… I can't wait to hear it out."

"So, it's about a person who's: not completely a person, not completely a heartless and he will be swimming in a red pool soon." I'm pretty sure he began realizing what I was talking about, but when he prepared to turn to face me…

*blop* *blop* *blop*

I already pierced the spot where he long ago had a 'heart'.

I was beginning to get used to the drops of blood that were escaping my formal partners' bodies. I first killed Jin and now, Ikutsuki was standing before me; I was still behind him, but he turned his face at the moment I attacked. He had the same fear in his eyes that I saw in Jin's, but I could also read anger and hate. His mouth began moving and his lips trembeling.

"C-C-Curse you… T-Traitor…" I released a laugh after hearing his last words.

"Traitor… you say? Aren't you the one who wanted to become the leader by killing the Superior?" I took off of his chest my, now covered in blood, Katana and told him, still smiling.

"You should be grateful, asshole. If you went back to the Castle to execute your plan, your death would have been waaaaay more painful. I'm so nice that I will end your suffering… right now!" in a snap of fingers, the remaining of the Infiltrator's body burned to ashes.

From a corner of the room, Aigis was watching the scene before her with horror, he blue baby eyes were looking at me, terrified. I looked back at her and decided to spare her any more violence.

"Nobody will enslave you again; you're free. Go and do what you think is right." She didn't respond and ran away. That's for the best. Now, it's the Pest's turn.

_~Meanwhile, somewhere in the Basements~_

_Normal POV:_

Fuuka was waiting in the last rest point she reached with Koromaru. She was waiting for any of her teammates to come to her and tell her that everything was alright… But deep down, she knew it was useless: as she was sitting on the ground, her arms around her knees, her comrades were maybe all 'terminated'.

When she felt that waiting would not change a thing, she decided to use Jin's device to send the news to the HQ and created a Dark Corridor that lead to the in-between worlds: it will only take them a day to return to the Castle.

After the Gatherer and the Loyal left Tartarus, a certain brunette came out of her hideout, with her eternal smirk on her face.

"Hah! She sure took her time, this Freaka."

While the Number XII was walking around the room, a shadow was discretely following her, holding a Katana. As the shadow approached the girl, she was heard mumbling something.

"Garu…" she quickly turned and released a gust of wind from her palm, an attack that the shadow quickly dodged. The person that was following Yukari was revealed to be Junpei, the responsible of the death of two of his comrades.

"Humph! You really thought I would be as dumb as the others?! I clearly saw through your game: you couldn't bring yourself one damn second to 'betray' your leader… You filthy dog!" she launched another wind attack that Number VIII, once again, dodged.

"Oh… Hm… Uh… Why such hate?" the Don-Juan definitely enjoyed messing around with the brunette who didn't get mad this time. She was looking at him while keeping her evil grin.

"It's kind of a shame: the two of us could have gone really far. And maybe, we would even have some time to have 'fun' together." Junpei reproduced his opponent's evil grin and answered.

"It's only now that you think about having 'fun' with me? As much as this sounds attractive… IT'S JUST TOO LATE!"

The fire-master rushed towards his ex-comrade and attempted slashing her. But, she jumped backward, evading the hit.

"As I thought: A Stupei will always remain a Stupei…" she summoned her bow and two arrows which she shot at the same time while still being in mid-air. The two arrows were easily blocked by Junpei's Katana and he immediately counter-attacked with a fireball attack.

The fireball was deflected by Number XII's bow before she landed on the ground. She joined her two hands and focused a wind spell between them. The Number VIII perfectly understood that he couldn't dodge this one so he decided to block it instead.

As the Pest launched her attack, the Don-Juan tried his best to block the spell head-on. The struggle was tough and Junpei almost gave in more than once but, he successfully deflected it in the end.

_I've got to be careful… _he thought will catching his breath _If I let her use this again… I'm doomed…_

Indeed: As much as fire attacks have normal effects on Yukari, Junpei, on the other hand, is very vulnerable to wind attacks, which makes the fight between the two tougher for fire-master than the wind-master.

The goatee man's gaze happened to stop on the ground near his enemy which gave him a small idea. He created a fire wall between him and his opponent.

"W-What are you doing?!"

Before she could understand what was happening, the brunette got a surprise slash in the stomach by the other member of the organization who came out of the fire which was now beginning to spread through the room.

Yukari closed her eyes while holding her bleeding belly, before raising her head and looking at her aggressor, furious.

"W-Why you… SON OF A BITCH!" the infuriated Pest gathered her energy and attacked.

"PANTA RHEI!" she released a powerful wind spell that sent Junpei fly and crash against the wall behind him which collapsed on him by his contact with it. This spell was even powerful enough to extinguish the fire, stopping it from spreading.

As the atmosphere calmed down a bit, the women got on her knee, exhausted and sweating bullets.

But, her breather didn't last long before the blocks of rocks covering her opponent moved and he got out of them, his coat was thorn and he had several injuries and cuts all over his body.

"I won't let you get away with this!" he shouted as he prepared a fire attack made of all his remaining strength.

"Imbecile! You're the one who's going down!" Yukari was also preparing best move.

As the two of them were concentrating their attacks, the ground began shaking and the ceiling was starting to collapse. The two enemies were staring at each other: grayish eyes meeting brown ones. They were both breathing heavily, both were injured and both wanted to survive.

"PANTA RHEI!"

"RAGNAROK TRISAGION"

They both released their respective attacks, making them collide. The struggle between the wind move and the fire move made the ground shake even harder and all what was around them break. The collision lasted for moment before the two attacks created a final explosion that pushed back the two Nobodies and made the ceiling collapse on them.

…

…

Some minutes after the clash, all what remained in the room were fragments of the stones that were once the ground of the upper room. Among all this chaos, a package of stones could be seen moving. They moved for a moment before a person suddenly stood up from them. That same person limped until he reached another package of stones covering another person.

_Even if you had all your chances to win this battle, there was still something that made the difference between us…_ he thought before summoning a traditional Japanese sword in his hand.

_This difference is… Our endurances: mine is obviously more important than yours, that single point changed the all the outcome of the fight._ He raised his Katana and prepared to give his unconscious enemy the final blow, aiming her throat.

_Good night, Yukari, Ikutsuki and Jin…_

*SLASH*

* * *

After doing what he had to do, Junpei allowed himself to fall to his knees, 'feeling' kind of down. _That's it; I killed all three of them…_

Even if he didn't share any special bond with his three deceased comrades, it was hard for him to realize he actually killed them by his very own hands: they were all Nobodies like him, searching to be whole, searching for hearts.

He quickly discarded these thought as he got back up and created a Dark Corridor leading to his next destination: Trish's place.

After he got out of the in-between worlds, he found himself in a shining place with a lake in the middle. He also noticed the presence of the mistress of the area; a green-haired fairy dressed all in pink with a captain hat and a blouse. She also wore white gloves and belt that had the red-cross sign on them.

"So, are you here for something, or what? Don't waste my time." She said, addressing the young man in front of her.

"What do you think I'm here for? Heal me already!" the Number VIII demanded, not caring about the manners with that kind of persons.

"Of course I will… As long as you can pay what it costs."

"Who told you I was going to pay anything? Just heal me so I can spare myself the chore of watching your face!" the greedy fairy was highly offended by the goatee man's words; she got near his face and yelled at him.

"Wha— I've got the most beautiful face a man can dream to see! And trust me: I ain't healing you for free, mister!" she her sentence by turning her face away from his while crossing her arms.

Junpei crossed his arms, too and told the fairy with a menacing grin.

"Oh! If you don't do as I command, I'm going to spread the news about the dirty business you've been involved into, y'know: those business only Nekomata knows about…" his words caused Trish to look back at him with wide open eyes.

"What are those businesses?!"

"Don't play the innocent fairy with me: Nekomata told me everything last time I encountered her!" the greedy began sweating and spoke quickly.

"A-Alright alright! I'll heal you, but be sure to shut up about this!"

"Now we're talking…"

Trish used her fairy magic to cure the Don-Juan's wounds, and it was pretty effective.

"That's it! Thanks for the services, lady!" the Nobody told her before vanishing inside a Dark Corridor.

"J-Just get out of here!"

* * *

Junpei's new destination was Twilight Town where he expected to encounter his friend: Minato.

He made his way through the town, watching all what was happening around while making sure that nobody was noticing him: curious eyes are always good to avoid. When he arrived in the alley where he could see the Twilight Town gang's hideout, he got a glimpse of a familiar blue-haired teen, walking to a Dark Corridor he just created.

"Hey Minato! How are ya doing?" I asked, getting his attention. He slowly turned to face me, with surprise in his eyes.

* * *

_**Okay, that's it for the chapter 4! I hope you enjoyed it: I did my best to write this one! Anyways, the Poll that I created some months ago is closed now, and the winner is…. Mitsuru! I've got to work hard to put the blue and red haired teens together… See you next time! **_


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